


Stolen Hearts

by 0bviousLeigh



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: M/M, Stolenshipping - Freeform, keyshipping - Freeform, keyshipping isn't the main focus of the story but it is in there, zexal month
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-12
Updated: 2016-08-12
Packaged: 2018-08-08 09:02:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7751482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0bviousLeigh/pseuds/0bviousLeigh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yuma leaves Heartland, and in that time Kite and Ryoga not only fall in love with him, but maybe with each other as well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stolen Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the shipping week of Zexal Month and posted in parts on my tumblr account. Now that the week is over, here is the completed story.
> 
> Prompts used : Adventure, Façade, Support, Alcohol, Home, and Together (though those last two weren’t official suggestions).

Ryoga meets Yuma by the old memorial for Astral. It’s been three years since the Barian-Astral war, and the monument has become something of a time capsule for the group. They’ve grown up around that old, hand-made statue.

Ryoga parks his bike on the edge of the road, in the grass, and walks down the embankment to meet Yuma. He’s sitting by himself, in front of the memorial, a piece of paper in his hands. Ryoga sits next to him.

“What’s this about?” He asks.

Yuma fiddles with the paper. “I guess you’ve heard by now that I’m leaving.”

Ryoga nods. He no longer attends school with Yuma, having chosen a different high school, but word gets around fast when the city’s top duelist takes the high school diploma qualification exam. Yuma took it, passed it, and he’s got high school credentials despite being a freshman. He’s dropping out.

“Are you going to go with your parents?” Ryoga asks.

Yuma nods and hands Ryoga the piece of paper. “If you want to write, that’s where you can reach me.”

Ryoga pockets the paper. “Sounds like it’s going to be exciting, traveling the world with your family.”

Yuma nods. “Yeah, we need it, after…” He stops, sounding choked up. Yuma’s actually been out of school for a few months now, following the death of his grandmother. It’s been a hard time for the whole Tsukumo family, and honestly Ryoga isn’t surprised that they’re leaving. Heartland has a lot of memories for them, sure, but a lot of them are bad ones.

“We still own the house,” Yuma says. “So I’ll be back one day, probably. Definitely.” He sniffles. “I’m going to miss this place.”

Awkwardly, Ryoga pats Yuma’s shoulder. “Is Astral going to go with you?”

At that, Yuma brightens. “Sometimes. Ever since Eliphas gave him permission to travel to Earth whenever he wants, he’s been wanting to see more of the world. He’ll probably tag along for most of it.” Yuma touches the Key that he still wears around his neck, after Eliphas restored it, so Astral could be with Yuma. “You know, I wish you and Kite could come with us too.”

There’s a laugh from behind them, and they both jump.

“Who invited you?” Ryoga asks Kite, yanking his hand off Yuma’s shoulder.

“Yuma did,” Kite retorts, coming to sit on Yuma’s other side. “You two looked so cozy, I didn’t want to interrupt.”

Yuma elbows Kite halfheartedly. “I mean it, I’d love it if you would come.”

“Nah,” Kite says, leaning back on his hands. “I have too much to do here, and then there’s Hart and the robots…it’s better if I stay here.”

Yuma looks at Ryoga. “What about you? Feel like coming around the world with me?”

Ryoga shakes his head. “Thanks, but…I’m needed here.” His fellow former-Barians are still navigating the human world, Ryoga worries about them. Plus, he is still a student.

Yuma links his arm with Ryoga’s and leans his head on Kite’s shoulder. “I knew you’d say that, but still…well, I’m really going to miss both of you.”

Ryoga feels like his face is on fire. He glances at Kite, but Kite stares resolutely ahead with a blank face.

“You’re going to have an adventure,” Kite says, his tone warmer than his expression, “You won’t have time to miss anyone.”

Yuma chuckles and picks his head up off Kite’s shoulder, choosing instead to take his hand. “Maybe. But I’m going to e-mail you all the time. And you have to e-mail me too, okay? Tell me about your projects and how Lillybot is.” He turns to Ryoga. “And you, tell me all about your pro-duels, okay? And check on Kite for me when you can, make sure he’s not drowning in work.”

Ryoga rolls his eyes. “Kite doesn’t need a babysitter.”

Yuma grabs Ryoga’s hand and pulls it into his lap, close to his and Kite’s linked hands. “No, but he needs you, and you need him, no matter how much neither of you wants to admit it. I know we’re all still recovering from what happened during the war, and no one knows what happened better than us three. So when I’m gone, you need to look out for each other. If you can’t do it for each other, do it for me. I won’t worry as much.”

Ryoga, as much as he tries to tell himself otherwise, can never deny Yuma anything. “Alright.”

“Yeah, sure,” Kite says. “Look, Yuma…”

“I know,” Yuma says with a laugh, “You have to go.” He lets go of Ryoga’s hand, and Ryoga looks away, telling himself that it doesn’t matter.

Yuma and Kite stand up and hug. Then Kite is gone, taking off on those stupid wings of his.

Ryoga stands up. “Do you want a ride home?”

Yuma looks disappointed. “I was hoping we could hang out a little more.”

Ryoga feels ridiculously smug about that. “Well, we could drive down to the beach or something.”

Yuma’s entire face lights up. “You remembered!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Ryoga says, but his smile gives him away.

 

_“Shark, when are you going to let me ride your bike?”_

_“Never.”_

_“C’mon, please! You let Rio ride it all the time!”_

_“She’s my sister.”_

_“I’m your friend!”_

_“Ugh, where would you even want to go? Down to the beach to watch the sunset like some movie?”_

_“That sounds awesome!”_

 

Ryoga hands Yuma his spare helmet, and Yuma clambers on to the bike. As soon as Ryoga is settled, Yuma’s arms go around his waist, tight enough to squeeze the air from his lungs.

“Not quite so tight,” Ryoga wheezes.

“Sorry,” Yuma says, resting his head on Ryoga’s shoulder.

Ryoga tells himself he doesn’t have butterflies in his stomach, it’s probably just food poisoning. But a few hours later, after Yuma has dragged him into the waves, coerced him into building a sandcastle, told him to wish on a shooting star, and kissed his cheek upon saying goodbye, Ryoga admits that he most certainly has butterflies for Yuma.

Damn it all.

 

* * *

 

 

A week after Yuma leaves, Kite shows up at the Kamishiro mansion. That in and of itself is enough to set Ryoga’s teeth on edge, but he brought the robot babies with him.

“Lillybot likes them to go for walks,” Kite says, dead serious.

“I don’t care! Why did you have to bring them here?” Ryoga asks.

Kite ignores the question and says, “I heard you were thinking about following Yuma’s lead and quitting school. Any special reason?”

Ryoga sneers. “I’m literally thousands of years old and have better things to do with my time. How’s that for a reason?”

“What are you going to do with your time?” Kite asks.

“What’s it to you?”

“I’m just making sure you’re okay, like Yuma asked me to,” Kite says.

“Well you’re not Yuma,” Ryoga growls, “And I don’t have to answer to you.”

Kite opens his mouth, but whatever he says is drowned out by a splintering sound. Ryoga turns and sees a gaping hole in his floor.

“Took fish-brains floor boards!” One robot baby says, waving said floor boards in the air.

Ryoga closes his eyes. “Get out.”

Kite sighs. “C’mon kids, time to go.”

As they leave, Ryoga distinctly hears one robot baby say, “I don’t understand why you talk about him all the time, he seems very rude.”

Ryoga slams the door shut and tells himself he didn’t hear anything.

 

* * *

 

 

Yuma video-calls Ryoga from a hotel in London.

“It’s so grey and gloomy, but we went to see Big Ben and we did some shopping, I’m sending you one of those corny little snowglobe things because your room needs some character, Shark, I’ve seen and there’s nothing defining you in there! Oh and I tried fish and chips, it was really good, Akari didn’t even finish hers so she let me eat what was left, and I may be ordering more from room service, I haven’t decided yet. Am I talking too much, what’s going on over there?”

Ryoga smiles, “You’re not, it sounds like you’re doing a lot, I’m just listening. Nothing really exciting is going on.”

“Really?” Yuma asks. “Because Rio told me you’re thinking about leaving school, too.”

Ryoga sighs and says, “Thinking about it, haven’t decided anything yet.”

“You’re definitely smart enough,” Yuma says. He moves around the room, and Ryoga can see a flash of the London Eye from Yuma’s window. He must be having an amazing time. “So, are you going to become a delinquent again?”

Ryoga laughs. “No, I’m too lazy for that.” He sighs again. “I don’t know what I’ll do. I’m just…so tired. Maybe I’ll sleep for a year.”

Yuma nods. “Yeah, I felt like that, too. It’s okay to need a break, you know. You’re allowed to do that.”

Ryoga feels a sudden burst of affection for Yuma, and he wishes he could reach through the screen and ruffle Yuma’s hair, but he can’t do that. So he settles for mumbling, “Yeah, I know I am. Thanks.”

Yuma laughs and launches into a new story about his upcoming trip to Paris and how Astral is going to go to the Louvre with him, can you imagine Astral in the museum and how many questions he’ll have? What do I tell him about all the nude Roman and Greek statues, Shark? How do I explain the religious paintings, Shark? How do I explain abstract art, Shark?

Ryoga has really missed Yuma since he’s been gone.

 

* * *

 

 

Yuma video-calls Kite from his hotel in Paris.

“Astral went to the Louvre with us today. You should have seen him, he was all over the place, so excited about everything, but he skipped the line to see the Mona Lisa and said it wasn’t even that great. I gotta admit, I wasn’t impressed either, it was way smaller than I expected, and like I waited half an hour for this, this dark painting that I barely got to appreciate because security was breathing down my neck? But the ancient art was amazing, we even saw this set of pottery my mom and dad unearthed on one of their past expeditions to Brazil, it was on loan to the museum, and one of the staff recognized my dad and we got invited to come back after hours and have a meeting with the curator for Japanese art, he took us to the store room and showed us these things that weren’t ever on display before!”

“It sounds amazing,” Kite says.

Yuma grins and, sounding a bit breathless, asks, “So how have you been? What are you working on?”

“Updating Rose and Ambit’s programming,” Kite says, rolling his eyes. “They’re a little too much into the teenage attitude, yesterday I caught Ambit trying to light a cigarette.”

Yuma hollers, “HOW THE HELL DID HE GET IT?!”

“Calm down,” Kite says with a laugh, “He found a cigarette butt on the ground and thought he could get it to work. It’s a work in progress, getting them to understand everything. It’s not like someone sold a pack of cigarettes to a robot.”

Yuma puts his hand over his heart and glares at Kite. “You could have lead with that, I was worried about those kids for a second!”

“Hart’s got them pretty much wrapped around his finger, I wonder if it’s just me they’re fresh with.”

Yuma laughs so heartily he nearly falls off his bed. “Oh boy, you sure have luck with the robots, Kite.”

Kite finds himself laughing along with Yuma. “Yeah, I guess I do.”

“By the way,” Yuma says, leaning off screen for a moment. He returns with a snowglobe, featuring the glass pyramid from the Louvre museum. “Look what I got for you! I’m getting tourist snowglobes for everyone, and you better put it in your room, you hear me! It can remind you of me!”

Kite feels his heart give a little twist. He doesn’t need a snowglobe to be reminded of Yuma, Yuma’s presence is all over Heartland city, and all over Kites life.

Instead Kite says, “I’ll put in my bathroom. That usually reminds me of you.”

Yuma screeches that Kite is terrible, and Kite laughs at him.

 

* * *

 

 

Ryoga storms into Heartland tower, marches to the elevator, and upon arriving at the top floor, barges into Kite’s lab.

“Can you answer your phone, please?!” He cries.

Kite looks up from a microscope, his eyes bloodshot. “It’s dead.”

“That’s what chargers are for!” Ryoga explodes. “God you’re useless.”

Kite rolls his eyes. “What do you want?”

“Have you slept at all in the last week?”

“Are you going somewhere with this?”

Ryoga throws up his hands. “Why do I bother? I need Yuma, not you.”

Kite pushes himself away from the microscope. “Just spit it out, pretend I’m Yuma.”

Ryoga scowls. “Rio and I are about to inherit the money our parents left us, or rather Ryoga and Rio are about to inherit the money their parents left them, and I am not Ryoga, I’m Nasch and I stole Ryoga’s face and I’ve been impersonating a dead kid for seventeen years and I don’t know what to do, and Rio told me that it’s up to me, and I hate it when she does that!” He finishes his outburst, panting and on the verge of tears.

Kite folds his arms. “Have you told her all that?”

“Yeah!” Ryoga says, “Well not the last part, I don’t want to fight with her.”

“You’re siblings,” Kite says. “It’s your job to fight. Look at Yuma and Akari.”

“Have you ever fought with Hart?” Ryoga fires back. “Yuma and Akari could afford to be siblings, Rio and I are more than that, she’s my rock, she’s the only person who keeps me going sometimes.”

Kite looks thoughtful. “Hart called me an onion-head this morning. Does that count as a fight?”

Ryoga punches the wall. “Why did I think you could take this seriously? I’m leaving.”

He’s halfway to the door when he feels Kite grab his shoulder.

“You’re not impersonating a dead boy,” Kite says. “Nasch and Ryoga are the same person. You have Ryoga’s memories and Nasch’s memories, and both of their spirits. If that’s what you’re worried about, don’t be. And from what I understand, that fortune is only a fraction of the Kamishiro money, most of it went to charity. Use what you get for your education, as long as you don’t use it for drugs I’m sure you have nothing to feel guilty about. And I bet you Yuma would say that exact same thing.”

Ryoga, his back still turned to Kite, wipes his eyes. “You couldn’t have said that from the beginning?”

“Give me a break, would you?” Kite says, “I’m exhausted.”

Ryoga turns around. “Yeah, that much I can tell. What are you working on?”

“A better way for all of us to keep in touch with Yuma,” Kite mumbles.

Ryoga tells himself that it’s not affection he’s feeling for Kite at the moment. “You need to sleep, Yuma wouldn’t want you to push yourself for him.”

Kite rubs his eyes. “Yeah, well, Yuma’s not here.”

“No, but I am,” Ryoga says. Kite is taller than him, but Ryoga has the element of surprise on his side. He leans over, shoves his shoulder into Kite’s stomach, and hoists Kite over his back.

“Orbital!” Ryoga screams, “Where is Kite’s room?”

Kite mutters mutinously but allows Ryoga to heave him through the tower and into his bedroom. Ryoga drops him gracelessly into his bed and glares down at him.

“I’m going to trust that you’ll sleep now, I haven’t got the time to stand over you and hold your hand until you fall asleep.”

Kite’s eyes are already closed and he asks quietly, “Has anyone ever told you that your bedside manner sucks?”

Ryoga turns to leave, then turns back and ruffles Kite’s hair. “Just get some rest.”

As Ryoga leaves, he gets the distinct impression that the butterflies are back in his stomach, and they’re for Kite.

Why is his life like this?

 

* * *

 

 

 

**Four Years Later**

 

 

Kite wasn’t able to go to the airport to welcome Yuma home, and he felt bad about it, but he was giving a presentation to the local government about his teleportation experiments, and he couldn’t postpone it. Yuma said he understood and would see Kite soon.

“Soon” turns out to be the moment Kite gets home from the meeting.

Kite enters his apartment, hears a shout of his name, and the next thing he knows he’s in Yuma’s arms, being hugged half to death.

“Yuma, when did you get here?” Kite asks as best he can, seeing as he can’t breathe.

Yuma shouts, “Just a minute ago!” He steps back and grins at Kite. “Holy crap, look at you!”

Kite could say the same about Yuma. He changed a lot while he was gone—he’s taller, put on a lot of muscle, and…

“Is that a tattoo?” Kite asks.

Yuma grins and turns his arm so Kite can see. “I have two actually, this one and one on my back.”

The tattoo on his arm reads “Astral” in elegant script.

“Wow,” Kite says, “Does Astral know?”

“He was there when I got it,” Yuma says. “I thought it would be nice, after everything we went through, to show that I still carry him with me wherever I am.”

Kite’s still in shock over the fact that Yuma is in his house, and he gets another surprise when Ryoga comes into the hallway and says, “Yuma, let him come inside, would you?”

“Right, sorry!” Yuma says, backing up.

“How did you two get here?” Kite asks.

Ryoga gives Kite a deadpan look. “I have a key.”

Kite starts looking around for more people. “And where’s everyone else? I can’t believe Kotori and Tetsuo would let Yuma leave their sights.”

Yuma laughs. “Well actually, they’re planning a surprise party for me right now. Rio rented out a room in a club and they’re all setting up, so I had time to slip away and come see you. And invite you to come to the party with us. But it’s cool if you don’t want to come, you must be so tired, oh by the way how did your meeting go? You’re working on teleportation devices, how exciting is that! You’ve gotta tell me all about it!”

Ryoga puts his hand on Yuma’s shoulder. “Yuma, slow down there.”

Yuma laughs sheepishly. “Sorry, I’m just really excited to see you again.” He links one arm with Ryoga’s and takes Kite’s hand. “Geez, it’s been five years since I saw you guys. I can’t believe I was gone so long. You’ve got to fill me in on everything I missed, okay?”

“We’ve been talking to you the whole time,” Kite says, squeezing Yuma’s hand. He’s honestly trying to contain himself—it has been a long time, and it is exciting to see Yuma in person again, but when he left, Kite could tell there was a lot going on between Yuma and Astral, and things were starting between Yuma and Ryoga, and Kite’s not sure where he stands in all of that.

Eventually the three of them make it to the living room, and they sit down and start to talk. Yuma talks about his travels around the world, the things he didn’t mention in his calls and letters—like the tattoos (he also got a phoenix tattooed across his back, it’s huge and Kite notices the way Ryoga eyes the ink across Yuma’s skin), the accidents he suffered (apparently he broke his left arm three times one year), and the experience of it all (“Getting to take it all in, with my family…it was the most amazing thing.”).

Then Kite and Ryoga fill Yuma in on their lives. Ryoga is studying marine biology and is working on creating solutions to oil pollution in the oceans, and Kite’s experiments with teleportation are promising to revolutionize not just travel, but medical sciences, like organ donation and getting help to people in hard-to-reach places.

“Man, you two are still saving the world,” Yuma says proudly.

“Speaking of,” Ryoga says, “How’s Astral?”

“Good!” Yuma says happily. “He’s back home for a little bit, and he said he might go back to Hawaii without me, he absolutely loved it there, you should’ve seen his reaction to the volcanos, he would have touched the lava if I didn’t stop him.”

“Yuma,” Ryoga interrupts, “Are you and Astral…are you together?”

Yuma blushes faintly and clears his throat. “Well…yes, we are. We’re…but we’re not exclusive.”

Kite glares at Ryoga and then tell Yuma, “You don’t have to explain yourself to us.”

“But I want to,” Yuma says. “Astral is my soulmate, I’ve shared a body with him, I’ve been to other worlds with him, he’s been with me nearly every day for almost half my life. But I’m human, and he’s…not, and we don’t know what the future holds for us.” Yuma clears his throat. “And besides that, there are…I mean, I’m…I’m, um…”

Ryoga’s phone rings, startling all three of them.

“What is it, Rio?” Ryoga snaps when he answers the phone. He glowers and growls, “Yeah, okay, be there soon.” He hangs up and says regretfully, “They’re ready for you, Yuma.”

Yuma looks almost panicked. “Oh, um…okay.” He turns to Kite. “Are you coming? Even if you don’t come, I want to continue this conversation, so maybe we can talk later?”

“We can talk later,” Kite says, getting to his feet. “And yeah, I’ll come to the party with you.”

 

Six hours later, Kite and Ryoga stagger into Kite’s apartment, supporting Yuma between them.

“How did you let him get like this?” Kite snaps for the fifth time in the last half hour.

“You didn’t have any other friends at the party!” Ryoga fires back, “Why didn’t you shadow him all night?”

Yuma groans and flops in their arms. “Don’t fiiiiiiiiight,” he whines.

“We’re not fighting!” Kite and Ryoga yell.

Yuma giggles. “You’re twins.”

“How much did you drink?” Ryoga asks as they drag Yuma to Kite’s bedroom.

Yuma hums thoughtfully. “Um…Alit challenged me to…shots every time Vector…flirted with someone.”

“I’m going to kill Alit,” Ryoga growls. Yuma said at the beginning of the night that his alcohol tolerance was pretty decent, so Ryoga had a sneaking suspicion that Vector and Alit conspired to see how far his tolerance stretched. Yuma wasn’t especially drunk, but combine alcohol with the fact that he’d just gotten off a sixteen hour flight and probably hadn’t eaten much and, well, Yuma was definitely loopy at the moment.

That was why Ryoga and Kite decided to take Yuma to Kite’s apartment. It was closer to the Tsukumo house than the Kamishiro mansion, and currently Yuma was the only one of his family back in Heartland, so they didn’t want him to be drunk and alone.

Kite and Ryoga deposit Yuma on Kites bed, and then Kite turns to Ryoga and says, “Alright, you stay with him, I’ll get some sweat pants and see if you can get him to wear them, I’m going to go get water and painkillers ready.”

Suddenly Yuma sits up and grabs something off Kite’s bedside table. “Kite…”

Ryoga and Kite look at what Yuma’s got. It’s a snowglobe, with a glass pyramid inside.

“You didn’t put it in your bathroom,” Yuma mumbles. Kite and Ryoga realize that he’s crying.

“Oh, god!” Ryoga yelps, patting Yuma’s shoulders, “Don’t cry! You’re going to make yourself sick and I cannot deal with vomit, do you understand me? I cannot deal.”

Yuma starts to laugh and cry at the same time.

“Kite, Ryoga…I missed you guys so much, I really did. I thought about you all the time. I missed everyone but…there was always so much I wanted to tell you, and I kept wishing I had done it before I left, but it wasn’t fair to tell you and then leave. And I was worried, I’m still worried, that you’ll think I’m selfish, and you’ll hate me…”

“Okay, stop right there,” Kite says firmly, sitting next to Yuma. “You’re just about the least selfish person I know. And if I can tolerate IV’s presence I’m pretty sure there’s nothing you can do or say that’ll make me hate you.”

“And I tolerate Vector,” Ryoga adds, and Yuma smiles briefly.

“Okay, I guess that’s true.” He sniffles and puts the snowglobe down to rub his eyes. “I…I want you to know that I really, really, really like you, both of you. Maybe it’s love? I don’t know, but I’ve felt it since before I left. I wanted to tell you both, that day I asked you to meet me, but I thought it wouldn’t be fair, because I was leaving for so long and I didn’t know when I’d be back.” He sniffles again. “But when I was gone I realized that…I couldn’t not tell you anymore. And I wanted to tell you this afternoon but then we had to leave. And I told you about Astral, and I didn’t know how you would feel about that. But I can’t not tell you anymore.”

“You’ve already said that part,” Kite says gently.

“Did I?” Yuma mumbles.

Ryoga can’t stand it anymore. He puts his arms around Yuma and hugs him, and Yuma burrows into Ryoga’s chest and sniffles a bit more.

“You’re breaking my heart, will you stop crying?” Ryoga says.

Yuma lets out a garbled sound that could be a laugh or a sob, and Ryoga continues, “Look, I certainly don’t hate you. Why would you think that?”

Yuma lifts his head. “’Cause I can’t make up my mind, and I want everything when I should only want one thing.”

Ryoga thinks to his past life, to the choice he had to make, to acknowledge himself as a Barian or to continue living his life as a human. He thinks about the agony he felt over the choice, and how he wished he could have both things. After Yuma’s wish on the numeron code, he got to have everything.

“Who said you can only want one thing?” Ryoga asks.

“Everyone,” Yuma says quietly. “You’re not supposed to love more than one person.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” Kite says.

Yuma and Ryoga are both taken aback.

“You don’t?” Yuma asks.

“I could go on and on about the science of love and attraction,” Kite says, “But you are very upset and very much not in a mind to listen to it, so I’ll just say that I think people ought to be allowed to have romantic feelings for more than one person, and it might be healthier that way. I’m not mad at you, and I don’t think you’re selfish.”

“Neither do I,” Ryoga says.

Yuma sits up, and Ryoga reluctantly loosens his hold on Yuma. Yuma finds Ryoga’s hand and takes it in his own, and he takes Kite’s hand in his other. “I told Astral,” he admits. “He said…he loves me, and he respects that I lo-like both of you, and he wanted me to talk to both of you about it.”

Ryoga inches closer to Yuma. “Did he think you were selfish?”

Yuma shakes his head and blushes. “He said…I deserve all the love in the world, and if more than one person loves me, he’s not going to stand in the way of that.”

“God, I can’t take it,” Ryoga groans. Yuma turns to him, looking confused, and Ryoga leans forward and kisses Yuma right on the lips.

Ryoga leans back, smiling. “Rio told me I was glaringly, obviously in love with you since middle school. I didn’t want to admit it because I knew how you felt about Astral, and I didn’t want to stand in the way of that, but if that’s how you feel then I’m with you, Yuma.”

“You always have to be first, don’t you?” Kite says, rolling his eyes at Ryoga. Yuma looks wide-eyed at Kite, and Kite kisses Yuma’s cheek first, then when Yuma doesn’t pull away, he kisses Yuma, too.

“Wait,” Yuma says, leaning back, “You’re both…you’re okay with this?!”

“It’s going to take work, on all of our parts,” Kite says, looking between Yuma and Ryoga, “But honestly, Ryoga and I missed you a lot Yuma. Neither of us expected how much we’d miss you. And I think we can be mature enough to talk about this and how we’re going to make it work.”

“But we can talk about it in the morning,” Ryoga says, stroking Yuma’s cheek. “When you’re not so drunk and we’re not so tired.”

Yuma grips both their hands tightly. “Can you guys…can you stay with me tonight?”

Kite sighs and looks at Ryoga. “You’re going to have to change, no outside clothes allowed in my bed.”

“And I suppose you think your clothes will fit me?” Ryoga asks, “Or do you want me to go naked?”

“Please, no!” Kite yelps, and Yuma bursts into a fit of giggles that leave him with hiccups.

Half an hour later, the three of them are in Kite’s bed, Yuma between Kite and Ryoga and holding both of their hands. As he drifts off to sleep, Yuma says, “I’m so glad to be home.”

 

* * *

 

 

 **One month Later**  

 

“This calls for a celebration!” Yuma cries when Kite hangs up the phone.

“I’ve just been granted permission to start the project, I still have to build the teleportation system,” Kite says, but he’s smiling.

“You built a portal to another world,” Yuma says, “I’m sure you can build a teleportation system for earth.”

Ryoga calls from the sofa, “Please don’t praise him too much; his ego will only grow.”

Yuma leans over the kitchen table and kisses Kite. “Congratulations,” Yuma whispers against Kite’s lips.

That gets Ryoga up and into the kitchen. He latches on to Yuma, arms around his waist, and when Yuma backs off Kite, Ryoga kisses Kite’s cheek. He and Kite are dancing around physical intimacy with each other, but each time they kiss, or hold hands, it makes Yuma positively giddy.

It’s been a month since Yuma came home, and in that month he’s pretty much moved in with Kite, and Ryoga only goes back to the Kamishiro mansion once or twice a week. He says it’s because he’s got to make sure Vector hasn’t burned the place down, but Yuma thinks it’s because he’s afraid of what moving in together means for the relationship.

Yuma says, “Actually, maybe we can celebrate by having a little chat.”

“About what?” Ryoga asks, pressing a kiss to Yuma’s bare shoulder.

Yuma tugs Kite around the table and pulls him close, arms over Kite’s shoulders. “Maybe we should all move in together?”

“You both practically live here already,” Kite says.

“I know,” Yuma says, “But we could make it official.”

Ryoga hesitates. “If we did live together…I wouldn’t want it to be in this apartment.” He glances over at Kite. “No offense, it’s just that you only have one room and…it’s still early in this relationship. I do need space.”

“Understandable,” Kite says. Draping one arm over Yuma’s shoulders, and one arm over Ryoga’s. “Perhaps we could start looking for an apartment to share.”

Yuma’s jaw drops. “You mean it?”

“One with four bedrooms,” Kite says, “One for each of us, and one to share. That should be a healthy way to divvy up space.” He adds, “And if Astral ever came, he could stay with Yuma.”

Yuma suddenly tears up. “Do you mean it?”

“Of course,” Kite says. “This place is way too small for both your and Ryoga’s things to fit.”

Kite twists around to look Ryoga in the eye. “What do you think of this? Does it sound like something you could live with?”

Ryoga bites his lip, looking thoughtful. “Well…I am getting tired of rooming with six other people. I suppose two is better than that.”

“We’ve done well, so far,” Yuma says.

“That we have,” Kite agrees.

They all bicker, sometimes. They each have strong personalities, and sometimes they clash. But usually one of them is sensible enough to calm the other two down, and nothing escalates too far. Yuma thinks they’ve been through too much to let a housing situation tear them apart. They know each other’s souls, and though Kite and Ryoga both like to put on a cold front, Yuma knows how warm they are, and they’ve proven it time and time again, in the last month alone. The fact that they are starting to navigate a relationship with each other speaks volumes to Yuma about how much they both love him. They want him to be happy, they want to make him happy, and though they don’t always get along, they’re willing to try it, for Yuma’s sake.

Yuma mentioned that to Astral last week, when he came to visit.

“I’m not surprised,” Astral said, nuzzling along Yuma’s jaw, kissing him with every other word. “Those who know you love you. You make people happy, now it’s their turn to make you happy.”

Yuma’s relationship with Astral has, for the most part, stayed away from his relationship with Ryoga and Kite. They both agreed that Yuma should be able to see Astral whenever he wants, and they won’t interfere with it. Nor do they want to pursue a relationship with Astral, which Yuma kind of saw coming, and he’s not bothered by it.

“So we’re going for it, then?” Yuma asks. “We’re going to move in together?”

“Yeah, looks like it,” Ryoga says.

“That it does,” Kite agrees.

Yuma kisses Kite, then Ryoga.

“Best celebration _ever_ ,” Yuma says.

**Author's Note:**

> [This](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate_for_Students_Achieving_the_Proficiency_Level_of_Upper_Secondary_School_Graduates) is the test Yuma took to get out of school
> 
> The baby robots part was inspired by [this](http://rainbow-galaxy-supernova.tumblr.com/post/144885390451/meshimoon-idk-ive-been-thinking-about-what-sort) comic, and I call the robot babies Rose and Ambit as a play-off of Lillybot (Rose) and Orbital (Ambit).


End file.
